Progress: U.S. Attorney General Admits Pot is NOT a Gateway Drug

A rather shocking thing occurred this week when U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch admitted that marijuana is not a gateway drug. Think about that for a moment: The nation’s top law enforcement official has dismissed the notion that people who use cannabis will inevitably go on to become hardcore drug addicts. [1]

Whoa!

On September 21, Lynch appeared at a town hall meeting in Richmond, Kentucky, as part of what President Obama has dubbed National Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epidemic Awareness Week. The attorney general was in town to discuss the hazards of opioid abuse with a group of teens.

In her opening remarks, Lynch pointed the finger at prescription drugs as the catalyst behind the heroin epidemic sweeping through Kentucky.

Lynch said:

“When you look at someone that, for example, has a heroin problem, it very often started with a prescription drug problem. Something totally legal. Something in every medicine cabinet. Something you can have prescribed to you in good faith by a doctor.”

The discussion turned to marijuana when a Madison Central High School student asked Lynch whether she thought the recreational use of marijuana among high school kids would lead to opioid abuse.

Lynch admitted that marijuana is not a gateway drug, but still framed cannabis as a potentially harmful substance. She replied:

“When we talk about heroin addiction, we usually, as we have mentioned, are talking about individuals that started out with a prescription drug problem, and then because they need more and more, they turn to heroin. It isn’t so much that marijuana is the step right before using prescription drugs or opioids.” [2]